A Winding Path to emptiness
by Sano-Ookami
Summary: 7 finds a new stitchpunk in the emtiness with a horrible history. Once he meets everyone things start to go from bad to worse. Is he just another scientist's creation or a robot's minion?
1. A New Arrival

It had been 2 months since the B.R.A.I.N. was defeated. 3 and 4 scurried along down a dilapidated hall, their optics clicking frantically. 7 sharpened her staff in her room. 9 sat on a small ledge on the top floor of their new home, a mostly intact two-story house.

Ever since the stitchpunks blew up the factory there hasn't been much to do, no monsters to fight. The silence grew deafening sometimes.

Suddenly the twins popped up behind 9, flickering their optics anxiously. They tugged at his fabric to get him up and fallow them. They were scared of something, 9 could tell.

"What's wrong?" he inquired as he fallowed the two down the hall.

3 stopped and started to project his memories on the wall. It was of the barren wasteland outside of their home.

_Why are they showing me…?_ 9's thoughts were interrupted by a sound from the memory. It was like a yell or a small roar. A tiny dust cloud of dirt drifted up from behind a pile of rubble, the yell sounded again, then the memory stopped.

"What was that?" 9 asked, his mind buzzing with questions. "7!" he called out.

A figure appeared in the doorway of one of the rooms, her sun bleached fabric clashing with the grey wall. "What is it?"

"3 and 4 saw something outside. I think it might be a monster."

"Finally! Some entertainment!" The warrior flipped down her new bird skull helmet and gripped her staff tightly.

"Be careful," 9 called.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!"

The emptiness was even emptier now that the monsters were destroyed, or so the ragdolls had thought.

7 crept along a soldier's helmet and peered over at the other side. She heard the yell and thump that the monster was creating. She looked over the rubble to see a figure covered in metal scrape the ground with its claws and yell once more. 7 readied herself to pounce.

Swiftly, she jumped into the air, poised to cut off the creature's head, similar to the way she had done with the cat beast, only to be stopped by a piece of wood. She tried again, this time a slash to the side only to be blocked again. Even though the creature was bent over it was still able to protect itself extremely well. For the third time, 7 tried to harm it in some way only to have her metal blade meet wood once again but this time with a struggle. The monster had to use both arms to stop the blow.

"You are very good," it whispered, pushing the white ragdoll back.

7 was surprised to hear the creature talk. She looked up at its hooded head only to have her optics meet the ones of smiling stitchpunk.

"Hi," he said, sitting up.

"Um… hi," replied 7.

"You're a good fighter. That's one sharp blade you got there!" he praised, fingering the cuts in the wood.

"Thanks."

"So, are you the only one here or are there more?"

"Huh?"

"Are you the only stitchpunk here?"

"Oh! No, no. There are three more other than me."

"Great! Can I meet them?"

"Um, ok." 7 was a bit uneasy about this stranger.

"Awesome," the boy said, shakily getting up.

7 gasped when she saw him stand. His right foot was twisted completely backwards and his posture was greatly affected by it and he was already short to begin with; shorter than the twins. He had to use crutches to walk steadily. 7 felt guilty for attacking him now because the wood he used to protect himself was one of them. He was also covered chest-to-ankle in metal plates.

"How did your leg get like that?" she inquired, looking him in the optics. "And your optic too!"

The ragdoll's left optic was cracked and crushed, the pupil faded grey. Looking away, he lowered his makeshift hood over the lens. "Um… well… that's a long story and… um… uh…. D-did I ever catch your name?" he stuttered.

"I'm 7 and you are…"

"10. It's nice to meet you 7." The boy held out his hand.

7 shook it slowly and gestured for them to head back to her base. 10 seemed antsy along the way there, just like a little kid with too much energy. He reminded her of the twins, with their childish behavior. It wasn't until they got to the house did he actually talk though.

"Wow! This is a great place you got here!" He hobbled about, marveling at the house's great condition.

Suddenly, 3 and 4 came from out of nowhere clicking there optics at the newcomer.

"GAH! What the hell?" Caught in the twins cataloging frenzy, all he could do was fall over with a loud _thump_!

As 10 verbalized his pain, 9 came from his workshop.

"Who's this?" he inquired 7.

"That's the _monster_ 3 and 4 showed you," she giggled.

"This guy? He can barley stand up!"

9 laughed but 7 didn't join in. She felt bad for the trembling boy being bombarded by the four flashing optics. One twisted leg stuck out from his fetal position. The twins finally succumbed to their own cataloging when they flashed themselves too many times in the metal plates the stranger wore.

"You know you can take those plates off if you want, there isn't anything that's going to harm you here."

10 nodded, steadily got up, and walked over to 7. Snatching up her staff, he started to cut the thin rope that held his "armor".

When the last plate clattered to the ground, he removed his hood and looked at the four shocked expressions.

"Y-you're all ripped up, and your leg's twisted, and your optic's cracked!" 9 exclaimed. "How did this happen?"

The boy smirked. "I'll tell you that story when I'm all patched up, there's a nice fire going outside when it's dark, and there are many opportunities for me to scare the SOUL out of you!"

3 and 4 cowered behind 7 and 9.

10 laughed, smiled warmly at them and gave a kid-ish giggle. The two slowly came up to him and clicked and flashed cautiously. They examined the three diagonal rips in his chest and twisted leg and flashed at each other in their mores-code-type language.

_We'll need a needle and thread for the rips in his torso,_ 3 clicked.

_Yes, I agree, but how do we fix his leg?_ Flashed 4.

_Hmm… maybe he would know. He's the one who got the injury. _

4 nodded and scurried of to get a needle and thread while 3 lead 10 to 9's workshop where 9 had a few gadgets he was working on. He gestured to a small table where they would sew him up and within a few seconds of laying down on it, 10 was fast asleep.


	2. A Past Revealed

A loud bang jolted the small stitchpunk awake. Horrible memories flooded through 10's mind as he squeezed his optics shut and shuddered. Then he heard a soothing voice.

"10. 10, it's alright. It's just 3 and 4; they dropped a book," it cooed.

The small stitchpunk opened his optics to see 7's face inches from his. "Hi, 7," 10 said as he sat up.

The female smiled and was about to say something when the twins burst into the room and started to tug her outside.

"They want to show you the book they dropped," 10 said.

3 nodded furiously and tugged on 7 more. 7 looked at 10 with an incredulous expression that plainly said, 'How do you know that?'

10 just smiled and said for the three to go.

Once they did, the new ragdoll sat in silence for a while, pensive. Were his friends coming for him? Were they still alive? 9's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey 10. You alright? You haven't moved all day."

At first, 10 had no idea what he was talking about. "Huh? What time is it?"

"The moon's already up. Are you sure you're ok?"

10 was shocked. He had been brooding for _that_ long? "Y-yeah. I've just been… thinking."

"Oh, well you want to come upstairs? We have a fire going."

10 laughed. _So they hadn't forgotten._ "I'll be right behind you!" The ragdoll reached for his crutches but noticed they weren't there. "Hey! Where did you put my crutches?" he demanded.

"3 and 4 used them for firewood. We tried to stop them. I'm sorry," 9 explained.

Smiling he replied, "That's okay, but I'll need some help getting around."

9 stepped forward, grabbed a small pole, and handed it to 10. "Here, this should work for now."

Using the pole as a walking stick, 10 fallowed 9 upstairs to the attic where some of the roof had been blown out. The moon was high in the sky and the small fire burned brightly with 3, 4, and 7 sitting around it. 10 settled down on an old chalkboard eraser and prepared himself for the recollection of his memories.

"Ok. Well I was the first creation of my scientist. He was such a nice man. A wife and two kids; oh how they loved me. The son, Kaleb, would put me on his shoulder and we would adventure around his house. We weren't allowed outside because of the war.

"A few days later 11 was born. Oh how we hated each other. Jonathan, the scientist, thought that 11 would be a girl since I was a boy, so he put "hair" on him, some cloth that went from about half his head to his shoulders. But he was wrong. I would always make fun of him for that but he would always make fun of me for being very short for he was very tall. My 16.6 cm didn't even come close to his 23.2. The day 12 was born that all changed."

10 sighed. "Ah 12. She was so beautiful. Yeah, she quickly taught us to be friends."

"Wait, you said your scientist's name was Jonathon?" asked 9. "Our scientist mentioned a Jonathon in his journal."

"Well, your creator was my creator's teacher. So when yours thought of us he wrote letters to mine through the Rebels. John used his designs to create us. Since he knew his teacher was using the numbers 1 through 9 he decided on 10, 11, and 12.

"John was extremely tired from creating us but yearned to create one last stitchpunk, 0. We asked to him not to; he would die if he did. There wasn't much soul in him left. While he was creating 0, all of us noticed that he was recreating me. When it came to writing his number, he wrote it backwards, starting with the 0. Right when he was going to write the 1, I stopped him and said, 'No you can't! Numbers don't matter!'

"He was in such a stupor that he agreed and continued making 0. We watched as he poured the last of his soul into that machine. 0 was quite and never talked; his face was always blank. I think there wasn't enough soul in him to have emotion.

"The day the creator's sons succumbed to the gas, he actually spoke. 'Why do they not move anymore?' he had asked. 11, 12, and I were too distraught with their death that we didn't answer, but what we did notice was that he had the same voice as I did.

"After the wife had died and all was quiet we ventured out into the dead land. We trekked the land for such a long time, finding a place to sleep for he night but we never stayed anywhere for too long. One day a spider-bot separated 0 from us."

10 smirked now. "Here comes the scary part. We quickly fled the scene, terrified out of our wits.

"I held onto 12's shivering body as the three of us cowered behind a car tire. 'That was close,' I whispered. 'Yeah, too close,' 11 breathed. 'We have to keep moving.'

"Still clutching onto 12, I followed the younger stitchpunk until a loud roar broke the silence. We all whipped our heads around to the horrifying creature. Its red eyes staring at us through holes in its mixing bowl head; its knife wings and needle spines all quivering with excitement. 'RUUUUUN!' roared 11.

"It was all instinct now as we scrambled over ruble but the four-legged beast was too fast for us. It grabbed 12 in its jaws first, thrashing her about. 11 and I yelled for her as she was thrown into the wall of an old building, which crumbled on top of her. 11 ran for cover but I stood frozen with fear.

"My gears kept spinning faster and faster. It was coming after me but I couldn't move. As it tried to grab me, I finally stepped back, but not before it slashed my chest with three of its razor sharp claws.

"A marvelous pain shot through my body. Stumbling back, I fell onto the rubble behind me. The monster was after me again and this time, grabbed onto my leg, thrashing me about. It threw me to one of those human transportation thingies; a car I think; twisting my leg backwards.

"The pain I had felt before was dwarfed by this horrible blade slicing through my leg. I heard the monster come close but I didn't see it for my optics were closed tight and one of them being crushed by the impact. Soon enough, I heard the voice of 11 drift through my audial sensors. '10, go! Save yourself! We'll catch up! Go!' he screamed as he tried to fight off the monster with a knife.

"I was able to block out the pain and scramble away from the fight. It seemed like ages before I thought it was safe to stop. I traveled for a little while. Then you found me, 7 and now I'm here," finished 10, a strained smile painted on his face.

3 and 4 were holding onto each other in fear, 7 and 9 had a mixture of expressions on their faces. It was sadness, fear, and a bit of sympathy. An awkward silence fell upon the five and 10 stood to leave.

"I'm going to bed," he said quietly.

Nobody stopped him, they just watched as the scarred sticthpunk dragged himself down to the room where he had woken that day. Even as the fir died out, the four were still wrapped in their own thoughts, 10's fantastical and horrific story still in their heads.


	3. In the Night

Weeks had gone by and there was no sign of 10's friends anywhere. As the days dragged on, the small stitchpunk became increasingly depressed, always secluding himself in his room or up in the watch loft, away from anybody else.

On one particular day, he sat, swinging his now untwisted leg over the edge of the loft and staring out into the Emptiness. 7 came and sat next to him but he just ignored her.

"10, do you want to talk?" the warrior asked, as she let her softer, more motherly side come out.

"For the billionth time, no." 10 growled, his gaze still fixated into the Emptiness.

7 sighed. "You can't keep doing this, 10. It's not healthy for you to keep all of those emotions inside."

10 shot a glare at her and got up. "Oh yeah? Watch me." Right as he was about to turn away to go back inside, something caught his optic. He grabbed the nearby looking-glass and put it up to his good optic. Not far off, he could see two figures making their way through the emptiness. A tall male and a slender female.

10 nearly jumped off the ledge with excitement. He threw down the looking-glass and went flying downstairs, shouting, "It's them! It's them!"

Before even the twins could understand what was happening, he was out the door and running into the emptiness towards where he saw the two figures. 9 was about to go after him when 7 held him back.

"It's his friends," she said. "Let them be for a while."

Not long after 10 had disappeared though, he came back with the two stitchpunks. The taller one was all torn up and was barely conscious and the female had a slight limp to her. 10 helped them to a room and started to fix them up immediately. When he was done, 9 and 7 asked if those two were actually his friends.

10 nodded with a smile. "Yup. That's 11 and 12!"

In the following days, 10, 9, 7 and the twins learned that 11 and 12 had escaped the beast successfully and had been wandering in the Emptiness for a while. They had found no sign of 0, to 10's great dismay but barely just a week after 11 and 12's appearance, the mysteriously quiet stitchpunk showed himself.

He came in without a word and floated around until 7 noticed him.

"10? What are you doing here?" she asked, for 10 had gone out scouting for 0 that morning.

"10?" 0 said in an airy, empty voice. "10?"

7 finally got who it was. "0! 0 is that you?"

0 looked all around but never at 7. "0? ... 0? Who is 0? I am 0. I. Am. 0."

The arrival of 0 brought smiles to the faces of many, except for 7. 0 unnerved her. He would sometime be caught just staring at her with a look of contempt on his face. He'd even been caught doing the same thing 9 and the twins but 10, 11, and 12 just said it was because they were new to him and he wasn't used to them.

Not even a week after everyone had gotten settled in, there was a disturbance in the night.

Everyone was asleep except for 0, for he never slept. A sudden scream reverberated around the house, jolting everyone inside awake. A roar resounded then a battle-cry. By now, everyone but the twins were up to see what was going on.

7 was being attacked by a monster in the front hall of the house. The beast was suddenly able to get its jaws around the female and run off with her.

"7!" 9 shouted as he ran after her, a spear in hand.

10, 11 and 12 all went too. Only the twins stayed behind. 0 was nowhere to be found.

In the dark and thunder-stormy night, the four stitchpunks raced after their captured friend. 10 ran ahead, being the smallest and fastest of the group. He vanished behind a pile of debris after the beast. His yell was heard and when 11, 12 and 9 turned the corner, they saw a most horrible sight.

10, the talisman in his hands, sucking the very soul out of 7.

Once the talisman clamped shut and 7 fell to the ground, lifeless, the beast came out of nowhere and scooped up the two stitchpunks into its jaws.

"7! 7!"

9's call resounded in the emptiness as the beast made off with his mate and his mate's murderer. In all of the confusion and trauma, 9 went after it in a rage. For no reason at all, the beast suddenly dropped the two stitchpunks in a clear space. There, 9 could get a close look at 10's cracked optic, three rips on his chest and the talisman in his hand.

10 moaned awake to see 9's foot coming down on his chest. "9! What are you doing?"

The stitchpunk didn't answer, he kept kicking 10 until he finally got some sense to get up and scramble away. He saw the talisman in his hand and 7's body and put the puzzle pieces together. "No! NO! I DIDN'T-"

Thunder crashed as lightning struck the ground right near them. 9 was thrown off his feet and 10 jumped to 7's body and began dragging her away. "I'M SORRY 9!"

By the time 9 was on his feet again, it was too late. 10 was nowhere to be found. He dropped to his knees and cried out for his lost mate as more thunder tore the world apart.

But of course, his world was already shattered.


End file.
